[nycbug-talk] [slightly OT] VOIP provider?

[Tim A.]

Josh Rivel wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone can recommend a VOIP hosted PBX provider.
> We're currently using InfoHighway (which was acquired by Broadview)
> and are very unhappy with them.  Prior to that we were using M5,
> and also very dissatisfied.
>
> Our contract with InfoHighway is up around March, and I'd like to start
> looking at alternatives.
>
> Thanks,
> Josh
I use these as PSTN gateways, but they provide Hosted PBX as well:

http://www.junctionnetworks.com/

http://vitelity.net/

http://www.iax.cc/

What I like best about these guys is their simplicity and ease of use. 
This is how it ought to be IMO.
Create an account, fund it, setup/manage it, use it.
That's all internet though, you have to get to them, they don't hook you 
up, they're not last-mile ISPs.
Unless you or your ISPs make suitable arrangements for your path to 
their network (not likely, just saying, it's feasible), you will 
experience intermittent quality issues.
It's the internet, VOIP over the internet will occasionally suffer. You 
can mitigate it a little with selection of codecs. But the problem isn't 
going away.

If you need rock solid reliability, pristine quality, your surest best 
is always to get the voip your last-mile provider is providing.
In my case, given the areas I was working with, Optimum Lightpath turned 
out to offer the most bang-for-the-buck and just plain awesome flexibility.

They use these Atrica Fiber muxs that break off  "Virtual" PRIs, 
deducted in 1.5Mbs increments from whatever size pipe you're paying for 
at no additional cost. They do the PSTN termination on the otherside and 
give you a PRI hand off for your PBX.  (Or in your case you'd just take 
hosted PBX accounts too, which they do.) They'll hand it off anyway you 
like and just deduct that handoff's bandwidth from your limit.

Anyway, the build-out's in process now, so I can't speak for the 
Lightpath service in production yet, but I'm psyched.